Faster Than Weight Watchers!

This was originally going to be called, "Flu Can Be Fun!" and was going to be about our idyllic day yesterday. Ellie had the grace to start having diarrhea over the weekend when daddy was around to take the nasty diapers. Other than the occasional spew or diaper-region explosion, her main symptom seemed to be lethargy and a desire to be cuddled while she rested. "Perfect!" I thought. "I'll call in sick to work, Ellie will be out sick from school, and the two of us will spend all day Monday cuddled up on the couch watching TV."

I was sort of excited about it. I told Paul, "Goodbye! Have a nice day at work!" with a bit of a snicker. My day was going to be awesome.

You can guess what happened next, right? Yes, I got it too. I felt like ass. Quite literally. I called Ellie's doctor's office just to be safe, and they wanted to see her. So sick me bundled up sick Ellie and got us to the doctor. Ellie's doctor took one look at her and decided that she needed to visit Children's Hospital to get rehydrated via IV. Silly me. I thought going to the doctor for a stupid flu was a waste of time, energy, and 20 bucks.

A long and involved afternoon followed, in which sick me got sick Ellie to the hospital, where Paul met us, while she vomited and filled her diaper and I tried to hold it together. After waiting at the ER for about an hour and seeing no one get taken inside, I checked at the front desk and was told that the average weight was 4-1/2 hours. The triage nurse suggested that I owed the doctor one for sending us down on such a busy day. I felt so sorry for the little toddler girl with the ugly scalp lac who'd been waiting over 2 hours already.

I called the doctor's office again. Before I knew it, we were being wisked to a quiet clinic that opens up after 5:00 pm as an extension to the ER. Ellie was the evening's first patient, and we had a quiet, private room while Ellie was hooked up to an IV.

She rested in Paul's arms while I ran to the bathroom or spewed gallons into the room's trash can, causing quite a stink.

I got a call from Ellie's school - a kid from the toddler pod (one-year-olds) had been diagnosed with rotavirus. They decided to admit us for overnight observation and more IV fluids. Bah humbug. Ellie's roommate was a very uncomfortable little boy with bad asthma and pneumonia.

We spent a long, uncomfortable night. OK, Paul spent a long, uncomfortable night; I came home and got several hours of sleep. I was back at the hospital to spell Paul by the time Ellie woke up this morning. She was feeling much better. She wanted to eat. She wanted to get down off my lap and play. Gross! Not on that floor!

Finally, Paul got back, the test results came back negative for rotavirus, and we were allowed to come back home. So here we are. And off I go back to bed.